Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker said Wednesday that the U.S. is “empowering [Syrian strongman Bashar] Assad,” despite years of calls from the Obama Administration to for Assad to go.
The Tennessee Republican has long criticized the Obama Administration for not acting more forcefully to quell hostilities in Syria, but he took that argument one step further on Wednesday.
Corker said it was clear to him that Secretary of State John Kerry blames the Syrian opposition for the current state of the war.
“If you just look at the body language and you listen to where the frustration lies, which is with the opposition,” Corker said. “Let’s face it, we are empowering Assad. I mean if you listen to John Kerry he’s more upset with the Syrian opposition than he is with Russia or Iran.”
Corker argued that the U.S. could have mitigated or even prevented much of the disintegration in Syrian if it had struck, as it had threatened to do, in 2013 after it was revealed Assad had used chemical weapons against his own people. Instead of striking, President Obama opted for a diplomatic bargain with Putin for Assad to willingly surrender his chemical weapons. “Do I think it would’ve solved the whole problem? No. But when we did not get Assad in September 2013 it said to the world that we could not be counted on,” Corker said. “Let’s face it, who propped up Assad more than any one? We did. Because in order to get the chemical weapons out of the country, he had to be there. So we began by propping up Assad and making these hollow comments about him having to go.”

Source: TIMES, 25Feb 2016